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Theseus: A new software package for the handling and analysis of thermal denaturation data of biological macromolecules

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Abstract

A new software package (THESEUS) has been assembled for the analysis of the DSC data, Concerning the thermal denaturation of biological macromolecules. The system is useful to obtain accurate physico-chemical information, bypassing the casual and systematic errors, very common in these experiments. It can also be used for handling data from other instruments and methodologies giving thermodynamic, spectroscopic or other kind of data as a function of temperature. Because many of the researches in this field are of exploratory nature and continuously new unfolding mechanisms are described or hypothesized in the current literature, we have written and assembled this powerful and flexible program of general applicability, in order to put the operator in a position to control each step of the calculation procedure and use his own experience for choosing the better way to solve unexpected problems.

Zusammenfassung

Bei der Analyse von DSC-Daten der thermischen Zersetzung von biologischen Makromolekülen wurde ein neues Softwarepaket (THESEUS) angewendet. Unter Umgehung der in derartigen Experimenten oft vorkommenden gelegentlichen und systematischen Fehler eignet sich dieses System, um genaue Physikalisch-chemische Informationen zu erhalten. Außerdem kann es zur Verarbeitung von Daten verwendet werden, welche von anderen Instrumenten und Methoden stammen, die thermodynamische, spektroskopische oder andere Daten als Funktion der Temperatur liefern. Da viele der Untersuchungen auf diesem Gebiet Forschungs-Charakter tragen und in der gegen-wärtigen Literatur ständig neue Dekonvolutionsmechanismen beschrieben oder angenommen werden, haben wir dieses leistungsstarke, flexible und allgemein anwendbare Programm geschrieben und umgesetzt, um den Operator in die Lage zu versetzen, jeden Phase des Rechenvorganges kontrollieren und seine eigene Erfahrung benutzen zu können, um den besten Weg zur Lösung unvorhergesehener Probleme zu finden.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University ‘Federico II’, Via Mezzocannone 4, 80134, Naples, Italy

    G. Barone, P. Del Vecchio, D. Fessas, C. Giancola & G. Graziano

Authors
  1. G. Barone
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  2. P. Del Vecchio
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  3. D. Fessas
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  4. C. Giancola
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  5. G. Graziano
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Additional information

This work was carried out with the financial support of Italian CNR (Target Program ‘Chimica Fine’)(Rome) and of Ministry of University and Scientific and Technological Research.

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Barone, G., Del Vecchio, P., Fessas, D. et al. Theseus: A new software package for the handling and analysis of thermal denaturation data of biological macromolecules. Journal of Thermal Analysis 38, 2779–2790 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01979752

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